I found a “natural solution” to combat garden pests, tried a few days ago and it works!!!! I’m so happy about this so I thought I would share this recipe with you since I know a lot of you aren’t particularly fond of using chemicals in your garden bed.

I have a HUGE garden and for the past few weeks or so, the green bean plants have been totally infested with Japanese beetles…so many of them it’s sickening. Yuck! I’m into organic foods and gardening and I don’t want to use the chemical sprays you get from the store. I tried several “natural” approaches and none of those worked, except for this particular one. Here is the recipe:

Mix well and let the mixture sit overnight. Next day, strain the solution so that garlic chunks don’t clog up your spray bottle. Pour the solution into a spray bottle and keep for up to 2 weeks. It works!!!!

The soap mixture (soap, water, and oil) is an insecticide. While the garlic and chili powder repel the nasty pests. The smell is VERY strong so I keep my spray bottle out in the garden to help repel the nasty bugs. Make sure to spray all over the plants, including the underside of them.

The trick is to spray this mixture on the plants as soon as you see any pests, which is when it works best. It took me a few days to see the full results but that was because I waited so long to find a good solution.

This solution is suppose to work on the following pests: aphids, mites, white flies, thrips, mealy bugs, Japanese beetles, borers, leafhoppers, and slugs. Garlic also deters larger pests such as deer and rabbits. The only pests that we have problems with are the Japanese beetles so I know this solution works well on getting rid of them. As for the others pests that I mentioned, I don’t know because we haven’t had any problems with them. It’s definitely worth a try especially since most the substances for this solution is found in our cabinet.